A Small Glass Chessboard
by Chihori Anigma
Summary: A collection for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
1. A Small Glass Chessboard

He needed to get in the house. He needed to. But how could he do it? There were protection spells and charms surrounding it as far as a block away. He had tried to enter despite the protections. But they noticed him as a thing that wanted to harm and had cursed him away. He was lucky Moody hadn't caught him.

He had come back to the neighborhood a week later, lurking in the alleys and next to the trash cans. He stole food and some money from the houses, but he still had no way to get in the house. If he didn't enter soon the Dark Lord would kill him for being useless.

Then, one night, while he leaned against a dirty wall, unable to sleep, a man walked into his view. He was dressed in dirty wizarding robes and he walked straight towards Barty Crouch Jr. He waved his wand over Barty Crouch and apparently found nothing wrong for he spoke.

"I have a deal for you."

Barty Crouch jolted himself out of the paralysis he had gone into as soon as he had seen the man enter the alleyway. He had been afraid the Dark Lord had finally come to kill him. "What...what sort of deal?"

"A deal you'll like. I can get you into Moody's house."

Barty knew it was better to not ask any questions about how the man knew where he wanted to get into or if he knew why. "What do you want for it?"

"Something very small. I want a genuine glass chessboard. A pocket one."

Barty nodded. "I...I can get you that."

"Two days." The man walked away the direction he came and Barty was left alone in the alleyway.

A glass chessboard you could hold in your pocket. Where could he find that? But he needed to find it. He needed to. He got up and started walking towards the richer side of town. If anyone would have such a thing it would be the overly rich Muggles. They collected and kept such strange things.

The next morning he hadn't found anything. He decided to debase himself and walk into a Muggle newspaper shop and ask about putting in an advertisement asking about small glass chessboards. Genuine.

He found a small shop and entered. A fat woman was sitting at a messy desk eating chocolate. He turned up his nose. Muggles. But no matter. It was for the Dark Lord. And...and he didn't want to die.

"Hello," the woman said. Her accent was almost unintelligible.

"Hello." He hated talking to Muggles. They were so far beneath him and this one was dirty, too. "I need to place an advertisement."

"Why didn't you ring on the telephone?"

He decided that the sentence was something Scottish. "It's about a small, glass chessboard. One that will fit in your pocket."

"How many words? Here, write it down." The fat woman passed him a something thin and white that he supposed he was supposed to write on and a pencil. He hadn't used a pencil since he was five and had learned to write with a quill, but he picked it up anyway. He was doing this all for a much higher cause.

"Seeking glass chessboard that can fit in pocket," he wrote. "Contact at Magnolia Road."

"That will be 15 pounds."

He took out the money he had stolen from the houses in Moody's neighborhood and passed it to the woman. He waited disinterestedly as the woman gave him back the change. He just wanted to get out of the stinking, Muggle shop.

He continued looking in the rich houses through the morning but he didn't find anything. Towards evening he returned to Magnolia Road. By now, people would have read the newspaper. As he walked towards the neighborhood he thought he saw Moody walking in the street. He hid behind a trash can. When the figure came closer he saw it was an old woman leaning on a younger, brown-haired woman.

Entering Magnolia Road he saw nothing that was of interest. Just a boy who looked around eleven kicking a pebble and a small girl playing a game where she jumped in boxes drawn on the sidewalk a few houses down.

Then he saw what the boy was holding. A small, glass chessboard that he could fit in his pocket. Perfect. He sneaked up behind the boy and Stunned him, making sure that the chessboard didn't break. He took it and hurried back to his alleyway.

He waited there all the next day and most of the next night. Barty had already begun to think that the man had found someone else to get him the chessboard when he came. He again waved his wand over Barty and then over the chessboard. He dropped a small bag into Barty's lap. When Barty looked inside he could see a few dark shapes. Curse breakers, he thought. He handed the man the chessboard. The next night he kidnapped Mad-Eye Moody and stuffed him in the chest his Lord had prepared.

 **Challenges: The 2016 Monthly Prompt List, Transfiguration Classroom**

 **Prompts: Homeless!AU; Write about an exchange, though it** **cannot** **be an conversation. It must become obvious throughout your assignment that something takes the place of something else, and that this probably affects the persons involved heavily, 300 words, Emmeline Vance**


	2. Lord Malfoy

**AN: The Lucius Malfoy being talked about is Lucius Malfoy II. The story is an AU and happens in the early to mid 14th century-before Lucius Malfoy I was born.**

Lord Malfoy was helped into his carriage by the footmen. Behind him, his wife, Narcissa, was being helped into another carriage. They were travelling to the coronation of the new king. Once he was settled in Lord Malfoy told the driver to go as fast as possible. The coronation was in two days and they needed to be there or they would be seen as disloyal subjects of the Crown.

The carriages started moving and the bumpy ride on the unpaved road started. Both Lord Malfoy and Narcissa were left alone to their thoughts. Lord Malfoy picked up one of the books he had brought with him from his library in order to dissipate some of the boredom of the ride to the city. He knew that it was dangerous to bring such expensive things to a place filled with so many people, many of the pick-pockets and thieves who deserved to be caught and hanged, but these were not just any books.

One of them, one of the books from his vast library that he valued less, was the coronation present for the king. The other was his life's work, a book he had been working on since he was a child and that he had no intention of leaving behind even for a few weeks. It was this book he had opened.

It told the story of his life, from when he was born as Lucius Malfoy to the early death of his father and becoming Lord Malfoy to now-the coronation of the new king. Almost eighteen years of writing. But the book was different than the books the monks wrote, telling the tale of their monasteries. In his book he wrote his personal feelings.

Because of this it was even more important that nobody stole the book. It could be used against him and he could be made to abdicate like his father or worse. He had put safety measures in place, however, to make sure no one had a chance to get near the book. Extreme safety measures.

As the carriage travelled along he read his book, thinking about how to add what he wanted to write next. After he had finished that he put the book down. It was much too bumpy to write in the carriage, especially the fancy writing that he valued almost too much.

When the day was almost over they finally entered the city. Lord Malfoy motioned to his footman to open the window so that the excited rabble could see him and cheer. A thin man tried to throw himself against the carriage but the guard pushed him away.

"Beggars," Lord Malfoy muttered to himself. To the carriage driver he called out, "Drive faster. Get us to the castle and away from these thieves as fast as you can."

"Yes, my Lord," the driver answered and drove the tired horses faster, making the people gathered on the streets quickly flatten themselves against the walls of the houses. Soon they had reached the palace. Lord Malfoy and Narcissa went to change their travelling clothes, leaving the drivers, footmen and guards to put the horses away and then do what servants do with their free time.

Lord Malfoy's footman came, of course, with him, to help him prepare for the fancy dinner just as Narcissa's lady-in-waiting went with her.

The dinner went smoothly. Nobody said anything that angered the new king's mother, Isabella and the subjects of talk were unusually interesting, although the need to avoid anything politically delicate.

After dinner and the troubadour Lord Malfoy retired to his rooms. After a brief sleep he woke up and began to write.

 _Our noble city is filled with beggars and pick-pockets. They roam the dirty streets in hordes, hoping to steal something from another man. They fear the presence of noble men, yet are not scared to beg from them._

 _This degradation of our noble city is surely because of the actions of our former king, Edward, and this will not be fixed even with the reign of the new king for he is just a child and our country will be run by the French consort and her lover who care only for France._

 _Luckily, the Dark Lord is rising. He will use the magic we chosen are given to rid the world of the non-magic users and make it a better place for us. He will rule England and eventually the world with the help of his followers._

He closed the book and with the use of a spell made it blend into the table. He then returned to bed. The next morning he woke to dress for the coronation and attended it like a loyal citizen. The celebrations lasted almost into the next month and then they were home, weary with the many nights that they hadn't slept.

Lord Malfoy immediately sent a letter to the Dark Lord. While at the palace he had discovered many things about the new king and, more importantly, Isabella of France and the Earl Mortimer that would help the Dark Lord in his quest for a better world.

The Dark Lord quickly rose and by the next year a war had broken out between the wizards while the ordinary people cowered in their wooden houses which often went up in flames from dodged spells. The wizards on the Dark Lord's side knew that they had to rid the world of the non-magic users, but their were other wizards, too, wizards who believed that they should protect the King and his mother and they were the ones, who with their resistance, started the war.

But then the unthinkable happened-the Dark Lord fell. After the King defeated the Earl Mortimer the Dark Lord heard a prophecy and he left to kill the subject of the prophecy. But the subject defeated him and the Dark Lord disappeared.

Lord Malfoy was brought before the King to be prosecuted, but he begged for forgiveness, claimed the Dark Lord had put him beneath a spell that made him do whatever the Dark Lord wanted him to do. He hadn't wanted to do it, he cried. He had agreed with the Dark Lord that the Earl Mortimer should not be the ruler, but no more than that. He hadn't wanted to kill the young King.

The King turned to the wizard helping him for advice. "Is there such a spell as the one Lord Malfoy claims he was under?" he asked.

"Yes, my liege," answered the wizard-a slightly chubby one with forgettable features, "It is called the Imperius curse and it is dreadful to be under such a spell."

The King turned to Lord Malfoy. "You are free."

Lord Malfoy bowed and left. He knew he was lucky the King was so young. A more experienced one would have thought to check his writings and would have found the book with the help of the wizards on his side.

So Lord Malfoy waited for the Dark Lord to come back. He knew Narcissa, along with many others, thought the Dark Lord was gone and never would come back, but he thought different and taught his son to wait for the Dark Lord, too.

He was proven right when his son was twelve and soon he was once again in the Dark Lord's inner circle. Another war started between the wizards. More wizards were on the King's side this time, but Lucius knew they would overcome. After all, those wizards were mostly fighting against France.

But it all came to an end too quickly. He was caught and imprisoned after failing the Dark Lord. He was only able to escape a year later with help of the Dark Lord, but he had fallen out of favor and soon he realized that his son's life was more important to him than the Dark Lord's aim and when the Dark Lord was defeated he did not care.

The King attempted to imprison him again, but, for a reason unknown to him, the subject of the Dark Lord's prophecy kept the King from doing so, pointing out that a non-magical prison could not keep a powerful wizard such as Lord Malfoy imprisoned for long and promising to build a magical one soon.

Lord Malfoy, though still functioning as Lord of the Manor according to the law passed all his property down to his son and tried to finish his book before his death which he felt was coming soon.

 _Draco will soon be Lord Malfoy_ , he wrote, _though I am still young for a wizard, war and imprisonment have made me older. Narcissa will live past me, I think and that will be good for Draco needs someone who will love him and teach him to love and care for the wife I have picked out for him, a girl from the Greengrass family._

 _If he shares everything with her, as I learned to do with Narcissa, he will be happier and make better decisions. It was Narcissa who made me realize how much I care for Draco and if not for her Draco would probably have been killed in the war._

 _I hope he continues to believe in our truth that wizards are superior to the non-magical people including the King, but I am afraid I see signs of him not believing in this. He was scarred badly by the war._

Lord Malfoy closed the book and went to his bed. He was unable to fall asleep and eventually he left his own bed chamber to go to Narcissa's. Though she was sleeping when he slipped into her bed she moved closer to him and he smiled. Soon he too had fallen asleep.

 **AN: The king being talked about in the story is Edward III, son of Edward II. His mother, Isabella of France, forced his father to abdicate together with her lover, Roger Mortimer. They then crowned Edward III who was 14 at the time. Though Edward II had been a bad king most people disapproved of Roger Mortimer being the** _ **de facto**_ **ruler and were happy when, three years after his coronation, Edward III defeated Roger Mortimer and became King in his own right. He soon started the 100 Years War with France.**

 **I didn't outright mention the city Edward III was crowned in, though I did make allusions to the City of London, because I couldn't find any source that would tell me where his coronation happened.**

 **The reason I say "non-magical" and not "Muggle" is because all this happens long before the International Statute of Secrecy is signed and I'm assuming that non-magical people were not called "Muggles" until then.**

 **Challenges: The 2016 Monthly Prompt Challenge, The Lolita Challenge, Muggle Studies Classroom**

 **Prompts: Writer!AU, Write about royalty or aristocrats, Regency!AU, Draco/Astoria, weary**


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